The Sense of Boundary in Dogs
[March 14, 1885.]
I have been much interested in the communications which have appeared from time to time in the Spectator in reference to “animal intelligence.” Recently my attention has been called to a somewhat striking illustration of it, in the case of my own dog and his canine neighbour next door. Wallace is an Irish staghound, and is about a year old. My neighbour’s dog is a pointer, and is considerably advanced in life. There is no hedge nor fence separating the two estates. The dividing line runs between two stone posts about a foot in height, and more than two hundred feet from each other. The dogs have never been friendly, the pointer having repeatedly driven Wallace back over the boundary when he has caught him trespassing. Both dogs, even when going at full speed, stop the moment my dog has crossed the line. How does the pointer know where the line runs, and how does Wallace know when he is safely across it?
F. Tuckerman.
The End